North Bay Imports made a big mistake and did not take responsibility
A dear friend recently said, “The only thing worse than a car salesman…. is a used car salesman.”
So, I’m writing this experience for two reasons (video to follow but I suggest you read instead):
1. To inform you to always do your due diligence when making any purchase, but especially a large purchase. If I had shown up at this dealer in the morning to purchase this car and found this out in the moment, it would have been a problem.
2. To encourage car sales people to ‘do better’. I’ve met some great ones, but most of my experience has been disappointing.
Dec 5th, 2025
North Bay Imports in East Windsor, CT and I recently settled on a price for a car and they sent me a deal sheet. I sent North Bay Imports a deposit and they prepped the car for sale. Financing was in place, insurance for the car was acquired and an appointment was set to pick up the car. In the meantime, I had been in contact with Audi corporate and they, Audi, sent me the original window sticker for the car. When I looked at the original window sticker, the car options listed on North Bay Imports website and the original window sticker did't match. The option missing, that is listed on North Bay Imports website for the car I ordered is the AC charging package, and it is an $1,850 package. Oh, I should have mentioned that this is an electric car. We recently sold our Tesla X. It needed to go.
I immediately reached out to North Bay Imports to see where the mistake was. The next morning the Sales Manager, Steve Powers, leaves a message saying that, in fact, the mistake was theirs. He then rattled on with excuses.
Now, I am an informed consumer. I do my homework and due diligence. What happens when a consumer at North Bay Imports takes the options listed as the actual options of the car? What if I had not gotten the original sticker and showed up at the dealer?
But what was equally as troubling was the response from the dealer.
In Steve’s message to me when I pointed out the discrepancy he said, “It looks like the vehicle that we were on doesn’t have charging ports on both sides, but it still has the same capability to charge on a level 1, level 2 or level 3 through that one port…”
Steve, no it does not have the same capability because the AC charging option adds a 19.2kW AC onboard charger.
Steve goes on to say, “…I didn’t know if you were, um, asking that specifically, for, you know convenience or, or charging or what….”
Steve doesn’t say, we messed up, we made a mistake, we’re sorry. His message showed, in my opinion, a complete lack of integrity, and integrity matters to me.
Justin, the salesperson, swore it was a mistake and not deception so whoever is reading this will have to decide that for themselves.
I told Justin that Gino, another worker at North Bay Imports, told me that North Bay Imports was different and that they were on the up and up and that North Bay Imports had integrity. I told Justin that North Bay Imports hadn’t demonstrated that.
The comments made to me by Justin, after I told him that this was “stereotypical dealer B.S. (I said the entire word)”, were, “…I’m glad you caught it because that would have been a bad trip for ya.”
He also said, “…I’ve been here for four years, this is the first time this has happened to me, generally it doesn’t.” Generally??
And then he says, “I didn’t know, or we didn’t know ,that the, the second charging port was a sticking point for you...” Sticking Point? That’s like saying that if they knew that a sunroof was important to me, we would have told you there wasn’t a sunroof even though we advertised that the car has a sunroof. He was acting like this was my fault.
Unbelievable.
Assuming an $1,850 option isn’t important to anyone shows the lack of care and accountability when it comes to listing their cars. And so, since we were supposed to pick this car up in less than 24 hours, I gave them the option of taking the cost of the missing option, in which they admitted was their mistake, off the price of the car or give us our $500 deposit back.
Steve’s response was, “We’re not discounting the car.” Discounting the car, he says? That’s an interesting choice of words considering the almost $2,000 option missing from the car they were attempting to sell me.
The one thing I can say is that they refunded me my deposit very quickly. Too bad they just wasted two weeks of my car search.
This dealer is two hours away from our home, we rented a car, had our cashier’s check in hand and ready to go. You know that feeling you have when you’re about to get a new (new to us) car? The little bit of excitement mixed with the nervousness of learning the ins and outs of a new vehicle? A sense of pride that you saved your money and you made a good purchase?
North Bay Imports ruined that for us.
It has been 12 hours since North Bay Imports was informed of their mistake. The false and misleading information about the car is still on their website. Does this sound like a business that genuinely made a mistake or a business that doesn't care that the so called mistake was made?
I can’t tell you how much I DO NOT recommend North Bay Imports located in East Windsor, CT for your car buying needs.
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So, I’m writing this experience for two reasons (video to follow but I suggest you read instead):
1. To inform you to always do your due diligence when making any purchase, but especially a large purchase. If I had shown up at this dealer in the morning to purchase this car and found this out in the moment, it would have been a problem.
2. To encourage car sales people to ‘do better’. I’ve met some great ones, but most of my experience has been disappointing.
Dec 5th, 2025
North Bay Imports in East Windsor, CT and I recently settled on a price for a car and they sent me a deal sheet. I sent North Bay Imports a deposit and they prepped the car for sale. Financing was in place, insurance for the car was acquired and an appointment was set to pick up the car. In the meantime, I had been in contact with Audi corporate and they, Audi, sent me the original window sticker for the car. When I looked at the original window sticker, the car options listed on North Bay Imports website and the original window sticker did't match. The option missing, that is listed on North Bay Imports website for the car I ordered is the AC charging package, and it is an $1,850 package. Oh, I should have mentioned that this is an electric car. We recently sold our Tesla X. It needed to go.
I immediately reached out to North Bay Imports to see where the mistake was. The next morning the Sales Manager, Steve Powers, leaves a message saying that, in fact, the mistake was theirs. He then rattled on with excuses.
Now, I am an informed consumer. I do my homework and due diligence. What happens when a consumer at North Bay Imports takes the options listed as the actual options of the car? What if I had not gotten the original sticker and showed up at the dealer?
But what was equally as troubling was the response from the dealer.
In Steve’s message to me when I pointed out the discrepancy he said, “It looks like the vehicle that we were on doesn’t have charging ports on both sides, but it still has the same capability to charge on a level 1, level 2 or level 3 through that one port…”
Steve, no it does not have the same capability because the AC charging option adds a 19.2kW AC onboard charger.
Steve goes on to say, “…I didn’t know if you were, um, asking that specifically, for, you know convenience or, or charging or what….”
Steve doesn’t say, we messed up, we made a mistake, we’re sorry. His message showed, in my opinion, a complete lack of integrity, and integrity matters to me.
Justin, the salesperson, swore it was a mistake and not deception so whoever is reading this will have to decide that for themselves.
I told Justin that Gino, another worker at North Bay Imports, told me that North Bay Imports was different and that they were on the up and up and that North Bay Imports had integrity. I told Justin that North Bay Imports hadn’t demonstrated that.
The comments made to me by Justin, after I told him that this was “stereotypical dealer B.S. (I said the entire word)”, were, “…I’m glad you caught it because that would have been a bad trip for ya.”
He also said, “…I’ve been here for four years, this is the first time this has happened to me, generally it doesn’t.” Generally??
And then he says, “I didn’t know, or we didn’t know ,that the, the second charging port was a sticking point for you...” Sticking Point? That’s like saying that if they knew that a sunroof was important to me, we would have told you there wasn’t a sunroof even though we advertised that the car has a sunroof. He was acting like this was my fault.
Unbelievable.
Assuming an $1,850 option isn’t important to anyone shows the lack of care and accountability when it comes to listing their cars. And so, since we were supposed to pick this car up in less than 24 hours, I gave them the option of taking the cost of the missing option, in which they admitted was their mistake, off the price of the car or give us our $500 deposit back.
Steve’s response was, “We’re not discounting the car.” Discounting the car, he says? That’s an interesting choice of words considering the almost $2,000 option missing from the car they were attempting to sell me.
The one thing I can say is that they refunded me my deposit very quickly. Too bad they just wasted two weeks of my car search.
This dealer is two hours away from our home, we rented a car, had our cashier’s check in hand and ready to go. You know that feeling you have when you’re about to get a new (new to us) car? The little bit of excitement mixed with the nervousness of learning the ins and outs of a new vehicle? A sense of pride that you saved your money and you made a good purchase?
North Bay Imports ruined that for us.
It has been 12 hours since North Bay Imports was informed of their mistake. The false and misleading information about the car is still on their website. Does this sound like a business that genuinely made a mistake or a business that doesn't care that the so called mistake was made?
I can’t tell you how much I DO NOT recommend North Bay Imports located in East Windsor, CT for your car buying needs.